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Matthew Perry’s death at the age of 54 in 2023 came as a shock to everyone, including fans who had only recently witnessed the actor reveal the depths of his struggles with addiction. But the new Netflix documentary “The One About Matthew Perry” is here to pay tribute to the beloved “Friends” star in a way that not only does justice to his legacy, but reminds us all that his life was not entirely defined by his personal struggles.
In 2021, we saw a version of Perry we didn’t quite recognize appear on the “Friends” reunion special. The year after, he released his candid memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” in which he revealed the extent of his battles with addiction in a book that was, at times, a harrowing read. The following year, he was gone.
Perry’s death was a deeply sad end to a life that had brought so much joy to generations of TV audiences. For those who grew up with “Friends,” and therefore had an element of Perry’s inimitable comedic sensibility permanently ingrained in their psyches, all of this felt like a kind of grim alternate reality — as if we were living in the wrong timeline. Not only was Perry gone, but our collective memory of his lovable comedic persona had been darkened by his bravely honest account of having been living in a personal hell for much of his life. To be sure, it was crucial that Perry spoke out about that personal hell. It’s just that it was inescapably sad to hear. But while “The One About Matthew Perry” is also a hard watch that doesn’t shy away from its subject’s hardships, it’s also a beautiful reminder of his impact on his friends, family, and fans.
Matthew Perry’s final years were defined by bravery and darkness
Despite being world famous and beloved by an entire generation who grew up on “Friends,” Matthew Perry still doesn’t get the credit he deserves. His comedic style is often boiled down to his signature cadence, which has taken on a catchphrase-like aura in the years since “Friends” went off the air. But as Chandler Bing, Perry was as influential to a generation’s developing comedic sensibility as any other comedy icon of the era.
When he passed away, it wasn’t just sad. There was a vague sense of foreboding about the whole thing, but it was due to more than just the criminal circumstances surrounding his death. Perhaps it was the fact it came at a time when so much of the culture in which Perry came to prominence was rapidly fading. It’s no secret that the world in which millennials grew up simply doesn’t exist in the 2020s. Modern day culture is more fractured than it’s ever been, and many institutions of our youth have been undermined, as have many figureheads of the era. The worst revelations of the documentary “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” for example, were emblematic of this erosion of a time that, viewed from the 2020s, seems like a dream — or perhaps, given the aforementioned revelations, a nightmare hidden beneath a veneer of contentment.
Perry’s passing almost seemed like a symbol of all this. Not only was he gone, it turns out he was dealing with “the big terrible thing” the whole time. But with “The One About Matthew Perry,” director Mary Robertson, who co-directed “Quiet on Set” alongside Emma Schwartz, reminds us that Perry’s legacy can never truly be defined by his struggles.
The One About Matthew Perry is a celebration of his life
Matthew Perry always projected a gregarious and outgoing energy, which somehow made it sadder to discover he was struggling so much. As much as Perry infused “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” with his sense of humor, and as much as you had to admire his bravery and forthrightness in revealing the details of his journey, the overwhelming sense you got from the book was that Perry had truly been through hell. But “The One About Matthew Perry” not only acts a valuable lesson for other streaming documentaries, it serves as an important addendum to the actor’s memoir, reminding us that however bleak things were for Perry, he did ultimately make so many people happy.
The most powerful moments of the doc are his family and friends’ recollections. Perry’s memoir was, of course, all in his voice. But hearing his story told by those who loved him lends a more uplifting aspect to the narrative. That’s something his memoir simply couldn’t provide, and “The One About Matthew Perry” acts as a fitting tribute to the man by allowing those who truly cared for him to tell us just how happy he made them.
That’s not to say the documentary isn’t hard to watch at times. But it is a celebration of Perry’s life, and in some ways acts as an antidote to the darkness that surrounded his final years. For fans, it’s a reassurance that the warm spirit we felt emanating from our TVs every time he was on screen was real, and something that can’t ever truly be eroded by time. Perry meant a lot to so many, and after a few years of bleak revelations about his life, it’s nice to be reminded of that.